[Capt Steve]

We had a monster monsoon thunderstorm Thursday night with 1.5" of rain falling in 30 minutes accompanied by lots of lightning and thunder. We have a large drainage ditch {the realtor called it a seasonal stream } across the front of our property. It is 8 - 10 feet wide and 2' deep and crosses 80' of our lot. It handled the heavy flow well but filled completely in about 10 minutes and ultimately did some serious damage wearing away the soil in several areas.

Yesterday I took my 2019 RL back down to the gravel pit {where it has been half a dozen times on previous projects} and had them load 1,000# pf gravel. On an earlier gravel pit run Sparky the loader operator got carried away and instead of loading 1,000# of gravel he dropped in 2,100#. The RL handled even that load at 600+# over payload without any issues but now I endeavor to see that they keep the load at or under the 1,455# payload.

Thanks to the swing out tail gate unloading was a hump but doable... just swing out the gate and rake most of the gravel right where it needed to be spread. I spread the gravel and compacted it reestablishing the integrity of my mini wash. Half a ton just was not going to do it so I returned to the pit for another 1,000# and this time added 500# of large rocks to further secure the drainage areas. The RL handled it fine and five hours later this ole boy was a hurting but happy puppy with the job complete. I hosed out the back of the truck and it is good as new... mission accomplished.

Here is a pic of one of the three reinforced sections:

 

[CNC1]

Yup, the good ol boys at Rural King scratched their heads when I went to the loading dock to pick up 20-40# bags of horse bedding pellets with my trailer on the back. they asked if I wanted them stacked in the trailer, I replied "put them in the bed", we will use the trailer for the 40 bags of flake shavings I bought. When they finished helping me load everything, one of them said, "that truck doesn't even squat"--priceless!

 

[Rockwood]

Would have loved a picture of your overloaded RL

 

[Capt Steve]

Would have loved a picture of your overloaded RL

Here you go... 2,100# of gravel:

Just for grins here is a shot of my RL with well over half a cord of oak that probably weighed something north of 1500#:

When not heavily loading the bed I often tow our 6 X 10' {8' tall} cargo trailer with either my Rzr, Can Am Spyder or my previous bike an Indian Springfield or full of furniture, three trimmings etc. The trailer has a max payload of 2,990 and I am usually between 2,200 and 2,600#. This includes several trips to the southern Rockies negotiating 10,000'+ passes with no issues whatsoever. Here is a shot taken at my buddies place in Angel Fire NM at 9,000' loaded with the Rzr SXS:

When you live in the mountains {we live at 5,000' in Payson AZ} you not only have to have a truck but need to be willing to use it as such... on a regular basis.

 

[Seasonal]

Nice pictures, looks like a beautiful place to live!

Bruce

 

[Trackrider54]

But it CAN'T be a real truck. It doesn't have a frame, a big gas guzzling engine, ride like a hay wagon, and have a turning radius of the Queen Mary. LOL!

 

[Capt Steve]

Yep, am back at the projects again. This time I'm building a 27' X 6' pad to park my cargo trailer and a trip to home depot to get supplies ended like this:

Those are 8 - 9' X 9" X 7" recycled railroad ties that weigh 150# a piece. The guys at HD loaded them two at a time using a forklift. I humped them out the Ridgeline ONE at a time. Also had a couple hundred pounds of other construction materials in the bed. Today I am headed back to the gravel pit for 3,000# of fine gravel {and yes that will be two trips} followed by another 1,000# of the larger concrete rock gravel which will be my top cover.

Here is a shot of the pad... a work in progress:

 

[Pleease]

When I had my 2007 G1 I caught the sarcastic grin of a couple of loader operators as they seemingly tried to bury the little guy with topsoil or mulch, but they must've been disappointed when we buzzed away like it was a load of marshmallows, lol. Have piled quite a bit in the 2019 too.

I get irritated by reviews where they say something like "should be OK for occasional use, with 1455# payload capacity", as if it can only handle a load once every couple months, etc.

 

[se.greenwald]

If you look at loaded full size trucks most of them have a very mediocre payload rating. I looked at a full optioned Ram that had a payload of somewhere around 700 lbs. Then you have the ridgeline at 1,500 and the maverick at around 1,500 as well. Around here the pit loaders have a hard time with perception since they load 80,000+ lb trucks all day. They dumped 2,200 lbs in a dakota I once had and it felt like the suspension was made of rubber bands. Then some are very ocd and will only load you on the scale. (probably for the better)

If you want sky high payload a regular cab F-150 with the 5.0 will get you 3,325 lbs. (8ft bed).

 

[Pleease]

If you look at loaded full size trucks most of them have a very mediocre payload rating. I looked at a full optioned Ram that had a payload of somewhere around 700 lbs. Then you have the ridgeline at 1,500 and the maverick at around 1,500 as well. Around here the pit loaders have a hard time with perception since they load 80,000+ lb trucks all day. They dumped 2,200 lbs in a dakota I once had and it felt like the suspension was made of rubber bands. Then some are very ocd and will only load you on the scale. (probably for the better)

If you want sky high payload a regular cab F-150 with the 5.0 will get you 3,325 lbs. (8ft bed).

Don't some of the Rams have pretty light towing capacities as well?

That F-150 payload is indeed impressive. But the RL handles my stuff, and I have a BIL and a sister (a sweet & pretty one, lol) with the bigger Fords and am not too proud to borrow one if need be.

 

[se.greenwald]

Rams tow anywhere between 6,700 and 11,600 if I remember correctly. Most people won't tow over 5k lbs so the ridgeline works out pretty good. I know I rented a boom lift to do some roofing and it came in around 3800 lbs so really no problem for a midsize truck. I know guys that do landscaping and they run the gamut all the way from little early 2000's tacomas up to 2500 hd silverados with $5000 rims. They all seem to get about the same amount of work done, one not surprisingly more efficient than the other.

 

[Pleease]

Rams tow anywhere between 6,700 and 11,600 if I remember correctly. Most people won't tow over 5k lbs so the ridgeline works out pretty good. I know I rented a boom lift to do some roofing and it came in around 3800 lbs so really no problem for a midsize truck. I know guys that do landscaping and they run the gamut all the way from little early 2000's tacomas up to 2500 hd silverados with $5000 rims. They all seem to get about the same amount of work done, one not surprisingly more efficient than the other.

Great point about getting no more work done with a much more expensive truck. And thanks for correcting that notion that Rams don't tow much.

 

[Capt Steve]

Finished the new parking pad for my cargo trailer this morning. Ended up using 4,160# of crushed granite gravel + another 2110# of the larger concrete gravel that forms the top layer. Add in the 1,200# of RR ties and 24 - 100+# wheelbarrow loads of earth from excavating for the ties, building the ramp and leveling the grade and the entire project was right at 10,000# of earth, gravel and ties that got moved.

here are the finished pics:

 

[14v6]

Congrats on your project. What's the reason for the railroad ties?

 

[Capt Steve]

They tie it all together and the gravel stays put.